Skoger is a village in Drammen Municipality in

Buskerud Buskerud () is a Counties of Norway, county and a current electoral district in Norway, bordering Akershus, Oslo, Innlandet, Vestland, Telemark and Vestfold. The region extends from the Oslofjord and Drammensfjorden in the southeast to Hardanger ...

county,

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

. The village is located just north of the

Vestfold Vestfold () is a county and a current electoral district in Norway. Located on the western shore of the Oslofjord, it borders Buskerud and Telemark counties. The county administration is located in Tønsberg, Norway's oldest city, and the larg ...

county border, about south of the centre of the town of Drammen. The villages of Klever and Eikeberg are located about to the south and the village of Sande i Vestfold is located about to the south. The village had a population (2012) of 1,206 and a

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

of . Since 2012, the population and area data for this village area has not been separately tracked by

Statistics Norway Statistics Norway (, abbreviated to ''SSB'') is the Norwegian statistics bureau. It was established in 1876. Relying on a staff of about 1,000, Statistics Norway publish about 1,000 new statistical releases every year on its web site. All rele ...

and it has been considered a suburban part of the urban town of Drammen.

History

Historically the area had large forested areas, and much arable land. Reference to Skoger is made in the land register maintained by Bishop Eystein Erlendsson (''Biskop Eysteins jordebok''). The parish of ''Skouger'' was established as a municipality January 1, 1838 under of the law of

formannskapsdistrikt () was the name of a Norwegian self-governing municipality. The name was used from the establishment these municipalities in 1838 until the name fell out of use in 1863. The municipalities had their legal basis from two laws enacted on 14 Jan ...

. This provision of the

Constitution of Norway The 'Constitution of Norway'' (complete name: The Constitution of the Kingdom of Norway; Danish language, Danish: ; Norwegian language, Norwegian Bokmål: ; Nynorsk, Norwegian Nynorsk: ) was adopted on 16 May and signed on 17 May 1814 by the N ...

, required that every parish (Norwegian: ''prestegjeld'') form a local self-government district. Skoger with 1,837 inhabitants merged with

Strømsgodset Strømsgodset is a former municipality in Vestfold county (from 1964 Buskerud county) in Norway which is today a part of the city of Drammen. History Strømsgodset was originally a small rural annex to the city parish of Bragernes (Drammen). ...

with 731 inhabitants, as well as an uninhabited part of

Eiker Eiker is a traditional district in the county of Buskerud, Norway. History Eiker consists of the municipalities of Nedre Eiker and Øvre Eiker. The area is located in the southern part of Buskerud county. Eiker is an agricultural area with a ...

on January 1, 1844. The enlarged Skoger municipality had a population of 2,568. Until 1889 the name was written ''Skouger''. A part of Skoger was moved to

Drammen Drammen () is a city and municipality in Buskerud county, Norway. The port and river city of Drammen is centrally located in the south-eastern and most populated part of Norway. Drammen municipality also includes smaller towns and villages such ...

on 1 January 1870. The rest of Skoger was incorporated into Drammen on 1 January 1964. This entailed a border adjustment by which Skoger became a part of Buskerud county.

Name

The municipality (originally the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christianity, Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest#Christianity, priest, often termed a parish pries ...

) is named after the village of Skoger () since the Old Skoger Church was built there. The name is derived from the

plural In many languages, a plural (sometimes list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated as pl., pl, , or ), is one of the values of the grammatical number, grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than ...

form of which means "

woodland A woodland () is, in the broad sense, land covered with woody plants (trees and shrubs), or in a narrow sense, synonymous with wood (or in the U.S., the '' plurale tantum'' woods), a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunli ...

" or "

forest A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...

". Prior to 1889, the name was spelled ''Skouger''.

Skoger Parish

Skoger has two parish churches both of which are part of the

Church of Norway The Church of Norway (, , , ) is an Lutheranism, evangelical Lutheran denomination of Protestant Christianity and by far the largest Christian church in Norway. Christianity became the state religion of Norway around 1020, and was established a ...

and belongs to the Drammen og Lier prosti in the

Diocese of Tunsberg Tunsberg is a diocese of the Church of Norway. It includes all of the parishes located within the counties of Vestfold and Buskerud, with the cathedral located in the city of Tønsberg. The Diocese of Tunsberg consists of the cathedral deanery and ...

. Access to both sites is via Norwegian National Road 33 ('' FV33''). Skoger Church (''Skoger kirke'') was inaugurated on 9 December 1885. It is built of brick stone and has 300 seats. The Old Skoger Church (''Skoger gamle kirke'') has an estimated date of origin of between 1200 and 1220 and is one of Drammen's oldest buildings. Skoger kirke 2018 (5).jpg, Skoger Church Skoger kirke kirkeskip orgel.jpg, Skoger Church sanctuary Skoger gamle kirke (1).jpg, Old Skoger Church

References

Villages in Buskerud Drammen {{Buskerud-geo-stub